world of men's style / fashion / grooming

An UrbanDaddy Publication

It all began innocently enough—the arbiters of the heritage movement began digging deeper into the history of Americana and a trend was born. At first, we were happy to see more bold patterns finding their way into menswear (even if, like the Navajo print before it, there were some lingering issues of decorum). But then labels began using it with wanton disregard: wingtips, backpacks, boardshorts... and then came the all-camo-everything look. We gave the Japanese a pass because, well, we admire their enthusiasm.

The suit in question was designed by Thom Browne, which does give the look a bit of leeway toward the fashion-y end of the spectrum. But we must draw a line somewhere. And so, we’re decreeing a moratorium on civilians wearing more than one piece of camo simultaneously. Effective immediately and lasting indefinitely.

But leave it to the unlikely union of the uptown stalwarts at J. Press and the downtown kids at Opening Ceremony to give it a new spin: patchwork camouflage pants. The move is usually relegated to the preppy corner of madras, but here we’ve got West Point military cloth of alternating camouflage—we detect woodland, desert and tiger stripe for starters. It’s part of a capsule collaboration between the two labels (you’ll have to make it to NYC or London to get your hands on any of it) that includes a removable-collar seersucker shirt, a few tees and a blazer.

It’s a military-issue fighter pilot’s helmet bag, but Alexander Grant has brought to our attention that its rugged nylon construction and simple design make it extremely versatile for daily use—when child rearing, in his case, but we imagine using it for beach-going or even carrying a laptop around town. It's all about tactical simplicity: two front snap pockets (one for a pair of flip-flops and another for your sunscreen) and a padded main section with more than enough room for your summer reading, a towel and those high-tech goggles. All at a price that ought alleviate any fears of sand- or saltwater-induced damage.

And since they’re army spec, they come in every pattern of camo under the sun. (Great news for the Wooster camp.)